Pitmen Chat - Independent HTFC Fans Forum

Greetings from a very warm Keys Park

Delfounesu not in the squad so his rumoured departure may well have happened.

And Perton may never need to spell it again..

PITMEN 1 - 1 Vauxhall Motors


Official : 516


Full Times:
1874 Northwich 0v1 Hanley Town
Hednesford Town 1v1 Vauxhall Motors
Kidsgrove Athletic 2v2 Avro

Another pretty abject performance. Thought the manager gambled with his selection and it backfired with a very pedestrian display. Took us until the second half to register an effort on goal and as the game wore on you felt that we would commit an error and concede - this duly happened.
Sadly Berks and Edwards gave us nothing in the middle and both were subbed with Farmer giving us a bit more mobility and energy and Joe Thompson playing in Verma for his well taken equaliser with a very intelligent header.

I don't think the players believed we could win. We started so slowly and allowed VM to gain a foothold in the game. We lacked energy and spark and players were guilty of over-playing as nobody was showing for them. Jervis was isolated in attack and we only really got going when Verma got the ball, but his crossing was poor. Credit to him for finishing his goal in a high pressure situation.

Boucher appeared fit in the warm up and I hope he has not been dropped. I'll give the manager the benefit of the doubt until we hear why he didn't play.

At least Exmouth and Winterton both lost, but we still need 6 points to stay up on PPG. Lord knows where they are coming from as we need to turn the form book upside down twice in the coming weeks. On recent displays we are in for a tough time

I’ll try and keep this as brief as possible.

If Boucher was fit but has been dropped then I couldn’t blame him if he throws the towel in after tonight. Terrible treatment by the manager on the face of it.

I really hope Sam Griffithis was injured. If not, another disastrous decision from the manager.

Danny Edwards and Joe Berks haven’t just not improved the side, but they’ve actually made it far worse.

Overall the team looked like it had no confidence, no clear instruction on how they should be playing and most disappointingly no fight. If we’re not good enough and are going to lose, the least you can do is put a shift in. But I imagine players won’t run their socks off for a manager that didn’t sign them, they don’t believe in etc.

If we continue playing like we did tonight then we will not even be in contention for a reprieve. The sooner the season is over, we wipe the slate clean and start again, the better. How depressing.

Nothing more to add other than to agree with the reviews already posted.

I was told that Boucher didn’t play because he turned up late but how late and whether that is true is unknown.
I was also told that another club in our league have put a seven notice of approach in on Joe Thompson, who bizarrely can’t get a start in this extremely poor team.

Lee K wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19 2024 11:00 pm Nothing more to add other than to agree with the reviews already posted.

I was told that Boucher didn’t play because he turned up late but how late and whether that is true is unknown.
I was also told that another club in our league have put a seven notice of approach in on Joe Thompson, who bizarrely can’t get a start in this extremely poor team.

Boucher was out warming up when I arrived, so if true, he couldn’t have been that late. If this was a one off and he had a decent excuse, then I would have let it slide given the importance of the game.

I would not blame Joe Thompson one bit if someone has made a 7 day approach and he decides to take it. Constantly overlooked by the manager for players that offer far less than he does.

As you can probably tell from this and my previous post, I’m not particularly happy with what I am seeing from the current manager. As Lee has said previously, I hope he is relieved of his duties as close to 16:45 on Saturday 27th April as possible. I know it was far from ideal under Harris, but this is definitely no better.

Two games and four points not a bad return considering our lowly position however against similar sides is not a bad return. I’m not convinced about the two recently signed players from Newcastle but have seen more from Joe than Danny. Retrospectively for us to stay in the league we need to be looking at 4 players from step 3 with pedigree and sadly PM does not have the contacts to attract that calibre of player. We can’t play how we have the last two games in the last 7 or we will get pummelled every game and that would be a very sad way to go down. Amanda and Craig thanks for taking over the club but the turmoil will not lighten until we can get a proven step 3 manager or high step 4 manager who can convince some of his old acquaintances to fight the drop with us. I’ll be attending Saturday but if we play like we did the last two games it will be a heavy defeat!

post-match interview

The credit for us getting a point then according to the manager goes to the manager for making the changes at half time.
However, one would argue that if he had played the right team and formation from the outset then the changes may not have been necessary. He thinks we’ve only conceded 3 goals since Runcorn but we did that in one game against Tividale but hey ho 4 games unbeaten against two of the worst teams in the league, a bunch of kids who battered us were it not for Brown and a win against a team one off the bottom of the league below. All is well!

Lee K wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20 2024 8:42 am The credit for us getting a point then according to the manager goes to the manager for making the changes at half time.
However, one would argue that if he had played the right team and formation from the outset then the changes may not have been necessary. He thinks we’ve only conceded 3 goals since Runcorn but we did that in one game against Tividale but hey ho 4 games unbeaten against two of the worst teams in the league, a bunch of kids who battered us were it not for Brown and a win against a team one off the bottom of the league below. All is well!

We escaped with a draw, but we were turgid in both halves. But for Tommo having good vision and Verma having a cool head we would have lost. Some changes e.g. Bailey on the wing smacked of sheer desperation. We got away with it last night.

I'm hoping that the bizarre selections now stop and we play our best XI from the start.

drop Edwards and Jervis waste of space Verma and Thompson up front with Farmer just behind
fighting for points and playing one man up front at home , Moore your a joke

I think playing Jervis with Thompson just behind has merit. Farmer did enough for me to start, but he is on a steep learning curve. I think Bailey, Berks and Edwards offer very little, but then we are struggling in midfield full stop.

The explanation for playing Brown instead of Boucher didn't wash with me. We've hardly got the Clemence / Shilton problem that England had years ago. Boucher clearly isn't rated by Moore and I wouldn't blame him if he goes elsewhere. Clearly the performances against Chasetown and Kidsgrove under Harris count for nothing.

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